The news follows a recent crackdown of companies that have been evading tax of over £25,000. Pressure has been on the government to tackle evasion for some time and a plan to deal with the problem was drawn up earlier this month at the G20 summit.
According to the Sunday Times, over 90% of Google's UK revenue is filtered through Ireland where corporation tax is a far more appealing 12% compared to 28% in the UK. The company has yet to issue a statement about the claims but did insist that it has always acted legally. A Google spokesman claimed: "Google complies fully with the tax requirements in all the countries in which we operate. In the UK and elsewhere we make a very substantial contribution to local and national taxation."
Vince Cable, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats criticised both Google and the UK governments previous praise of the company: "The more tax that companies like Google avoid, the more the tax burden falls on the rest of the public. It is clear that while Labour and the Tories have been embracing Google as the paragon of a 21st-century company, it has been running away from the taxman."
The search engine has recently come under fire from several over UK groups including privacy campaigners concerned about new coverage of its ground level 'Street Maps' service.
The company employs over 20,000 people worldwide and is the world's most popular website.
